My nephew has a C in gcse in year 7

[iamnotaprincess]

The school got him to do a paper and yes, he did really well. Is this super weird? He is only 12 and just started secondary. My sister is a bit perplexed and so am I. We were not educated in the UK, so we are getting worried that maybe gcses are a bit easy these days? My nephew is super fast at maths but definetely no genius. The questions did seem to be quite easy....I wanted to know what you guys think....

I think he's probably very clever :)

A C is about a level 7, which is very good for the start of Y7, but not wildly unusual. If he got a level 6 at KS2, that's about a D grade GCSE.

The questions probably seemed easy because it was a foundation paper where the questions go from a G to a C grade (level 3 to 7). There's a higher paper which the brighter students take which goes from a D to an A*.

Level 7 as the others are saying. DD is in year 7, she has a friend who took GCSE maths at the end of year 5 and got an A. Maths is one of those things that if you get you can do young, it doesn't require a maturity that humanities require.

yes, it was the foundation paper - our worry is that he will be bored, he was so bored at primary, maybe the higher paper will keep him engaged, thanks for advice, i will pass on.

I'd say about half of my top set year 7 class would scrape a c on a GCSE past paper. It's bright, but not that unusual. If the school's good then they'll stretch him as much as possible. The new higher paper is a lot more challenging.

My DS also sat this test in Year 7 and got a C. He is now in Year 8 and his target for end of year is 7a. He wasn't in sets in year 7, and I am not even convinced that he is now. What he has told me is that although there is a large element of the curriculum that he has done over and over in primary, there has been some learning that was totally new to him, so I concluded that it was essential he went through the basis again in year 7. He was bored at time, but after Christmas, his teacher started giving him additional work. He still finds that lesson boring because not challenging, but I'm sure that will start to change soon. I saw a huge difference in what DD was doing at the start of year 8 to what she was doing at the start of year 9.

Yes, the current Math education in secondary school is too simple for bright children. From DS1's experience, he hasn't learned much till Y10, when GCSE math course plus additional math course have started.
And on the other side, DH who is a professor in Universtiy said some of his students haven't got enough math foundation for their subjects.
This is the trouble for the GCSE, as it covers for a big range of abilities.

I think it's very good and definitely in the very bright category but not that unusual. Basic maths gcse to a* just doesn't contain many complex ideas for more able students. Most of the concepts can be easily grasped from the basic concept without too much stretching if you're in the category where maths just comes easy. And being logic based as a pp said, it doesn't take maturity to balance understanding.

DD1 did a trial paper in Yr8 and got a B, it can be done for a child who's naturally good at maths. She's now in Yr10, will be doing the new, harder GCSE and is finding the stuff that will get her the grade 8/9 she is aiming for a challenge but doable. She's in the middle of the top set she is in, the top of that group are flying through the hard stuff with scary ease so your nephew is very bright but only time will tell just how good he really is.

Thank you for all this. He gets given additional work, but says it is just as easy, so he would rather say nothing. He is at a crappy school, should have tried for a grammar,but his parents had no money for the compulsory tutoring and also politically were against it. Pity to see him doing well, but feeling a bit bored at the age of 12.

Tutoring is not compulsory.

My son's really good at Maths - probably not as good as your son but still good. His school do a fast track program so my son will do gcse's maths a year early and then they do another maths qualification that's in between a gcse an a level (I think?). Will your school do that?

iam
Questions to ask : why?
as in how will this exam benefit HIM ?
Not the school, but HIM?

So, what else are they offering to allow him - with that high level maths skill - to stretch sideways and expand his brain.

read up on how feynmann was educated : it will make sense

Do you have to declare all results on your UCAS form, or do you just ignore it if you get a better result later?

Also, if your dn is good at maths, could he try for a scholarship at a private school?

Not wanting to detract from sounds like a very bright child, a story in this morning's Telegraph explains how a C grade at GCSE maths only requires 33% correct answers. In many other countries that would be a fail.

Surely that would depend on the questions

Just to give some idea of how rare it is, 303 11 to 13 year olds did GCSE maths www.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/images/109911-how-old-are-gcse-candidates-.pdf

That was in 2009.

By the time he is due to take it the grading will be numerical not letters, so a pass level c now is irrelevant except as a guide and he won't have covered the work at higher level yet. Dd did a past paper in y 8, certainly Common Entrance papers used in private system are of a similar level. So I don't think child in op is exceptional. Dd will sit iGCSE Maths in y10 then additional maths in y11.

There have been other threads which say only the first result for any exam will be considered and all subsequent passes will be looked on as retakes. I would like to know if this is or is not the case. LIZS, because the scoring system is changing, will it be looked on as a completely different exam?

I think the bigger issue is what they plan to offer him, rather than where exactly he fits nationally in terms of exactly how good he is. Whether only the top 0.5% could do it, or the top 30% isn't the point. The fact is the lessons in his class aren't at his ability if he's finding it boring, so the question is what are school going to provide to stretch him?

Whilst I did post earlier a c in itself doesn't indicate anything more than very bright, it's hard to say how bright a child is from that alone. And I probably should have clarified that in my earlier post. If they've never seen curriculum beyond ks2 sats level 6, then while a very able child can work on from that independently and figure out things they've never come across, at the very least it's going to slow them down in a timed test.

petts I don't think how many correct answers are needed is any indication of how difficult an exam is. Its the content that dictates whether an exam is 'easy' or not. I do actually think the gcse to a* curriculum doesn't contain much to challenge an able y11, but that's down to the concepts involved not the number of correct answers required in the exam.

No idea, but doubt it.

I don't think the DC in the OP actually sat the proper exam, only took a paper to see what he would get?

Any school that actually made a child sit a proper GCSE early to get an official C should be shut down forced to consider the implications of their misguided actions.

a story in this morning's Telegraph explains how a C grade at GCSE maths only requires 33% correct answers. In many other countries that would be a fail.

This sort of story is a big misinterpretation of the 2 different tiers of paper available at GCSE.
The Higher paper covers material for candidates aiming at A*-D grades. So it doesn't contain the easier questions. Therefore pupils who are able to successfully complete the grade C questions but find the grade A questions too hard will still get their C grade on 33% of the marks.
Pupils taking the Foundation paper which contains the grade G-C questions need a much higher percentage to obtain their C grade.

noblegiraffe I hope you're right - DD1 certainly didn't sit a GCSE, they were just trying it to see how that group got on. I'd have been if it had been anything else.